By TCN News,
Bhopal: The Association of Indian Muslims of America, (AIM), an NGO of Indian Muslims who live in the United States, has announced plans to build an English medium Junior High School at a Madrasa in the town of Tewda in district Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh.
The school will be built at the existing campus of Madrasa Islamia Arabia Qasim-ul-Uloom, a prominent, modern and financially sound Madrasa owned and operated by the Muslim Educational Development Association of Muzaffarnagar.
According to a AIM Press release issued by Kaleem Khawaja from Washington DC via e-mail, the AIM will build and equip several classrooms and infrastructure for the English medium ‘AIM Junior High School’ on land donated by Madrasa Islamia Arabia Qasim-ul-Uloom at the existing campus of the madrasa in Tewda, at an estimated cost of about Rs 25 lakh. AIM is building this project in collaboration with the Hyderabad based NGO – Muslim Educational, Social, Cultural Organization, (MESCO). MESCO will manage and operate the school under the auspices of the management of the Madrasa Islamia Arabia Qasim-ul-Uloom.
The AIM school from KG grade to Grade VIII with an enrollment of about 150 students will follow the Indian Government’s CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) curriculum, with English being the medium of instruction. Under an arrangement with the Madrasa the program calls for transferring some young students from the Madrasa to the English medium school. Instruction in the school will comprise of both Islamic subjects (Deeniyat) and regular subjects including Science subjects. In Grade VIII students will be given an option to either study Islamic subjects to become Islamic scholars on a full time basis, or regular scientific subjects to pursue careers in science and technology, the release stated.
The construction of the AIM school is expected to begin in a few months upon the completion of construction drawings, receipt of construction permit from the municipal authorities and the selection of a construction contractor, the release added.
It may be mentioned here that Muslims comprise about 40 per cent of the population of the township of Tewda, which is located about 100 km from New Delhi.